The NCRR Initiative is designed to strengthen the quality of pre-college science education available to underrepresented minority students. In an effort to increase significantly the pool of minorities in the sciences, Rutgers-Newark will implement a program comprised of summer research opportunities and long-range partnerships between high schools and the university research community. Specifically, the NCRR Initiative will: 1) expose minority high school students to research science by providing hands-on research experiences under the guidance of science faculty, thus stimulating their interest and encouraging decisions towards careers in the health sciences; 2) introduce teachers to advancements in the field of science by providing them the opportunity to train in research-active laboratories under the supervision of a faculty mentor; 3) allow participation of the university research faculty in the advisement and monitoring of students pre-college education, and in the teachers' development of more stimulating science curricula.